Corgi VA10400.(D) Hillman Avenger in bitter green

This item does not have a limited edition certificate included From taking over his father's Maidstone cycle shop in 1913, 'Billy' Rootes had shown fantastic business acumen and by the 1920's the Rootes brothers where running Britain's biggest motor trade distributors. The Rootes family then entered manufacturing by gradually acquiring Hillman, Humber, Singer, Sunbeam and Talbot; collectively, 'The Rootes Group'. In 1960 the, by then, Sir William made what in retrospect must be regarding as a tactical error and accepted Government money to built a plant for the all-new Imp in the high unemployment area of Linwood, Scotland. In commercial terms this was a costly failure that contributed to Rootes having to sell a minority stake to the American Chrysler company in 1964. Lord Rootes, as 'Billy' had now become, died only weeks later.